Former Blackwater workers face new murder indictment

[maddezmom]

Source: virgina-pilot

A federal grand jury issued a new murder indictment against two former Blackwater security workers, charging one defendant with using a machine gun but reducing an attempted murder charge against both.

The grand jury didn't change the most serious charges against Christopher Drotleff and Justin Cannon. They remain charged with second-degree murder and related counts in the May 5, 2009, shooting deaths of two Afghan nationals and the wounding of a third.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned next week on the new indictment, but the Sept. 14 trial date is not expected to change. The grand jury issued the indictment Aug. 5.

Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, and Cannon, of Corpus Christi, Texas, were working for a subsidiary of Blackwater, also known as Xe, to train the Afghan police force in Kabul. The indictment alleges they were drinking that day when they became involved in a traffic accident and began firing their weapons at another car.


Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/former-blackwater-worke...

[saigon68]

1. Good thing we are supporting this coterie of misfits

[midnight]

2. K&R

[txlibdem]

3. jail the underlings, problem solved

Don't look too deeply into the culture of the company that enabled and encouraged illegal behavior. Don't look into company emails and memos because you might find that the problems came from the top. We wouldn't want that because then you may have to put some rich m'f'er up on charges. Let's just jail the pions, the pawns in the sick system that is Xe (after their name change) and was Blackwater.

[wellst0nev0ter]

4. B-B-But Breitbart Said ACORN Was Helping Pimps! (n/t)

[Vidar]

5. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys. Too bad we can't the bunch who hired them as well.

[kpete]

6. Former Blackwater workers face new slaying indictment (For Murder)

Source: Pilot Online

A federal grand jury issued a new murder indictment against two former Blackwater security workers, charging one defendant with using a machine gun but reducing an attempted murder charge against both.

The grand jury didn't change the most serious charges against Christopher Drotleff and Justin Cannon. They remain charged with second-degree murder and related counts in the May 5, 2009, shooting deaths of two Afghan nationals and the wounding of a third.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned next week on the new indictment, but the Sept. 14 trial date is not expected to change. The grand jury issued the indictment Aug. 5.

Drotleff, of Virginia Beach, and Cannon, of Corpus Christi, Texas, were working for a subsidiary of Blackwater, also known as Xe, to train the Afghan police force in Kabul. The indictment alleges they were drinking that day when they became involved in a traffic accident and began firing their weapons at another car.

Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/former-blackwater-worke...

[dipsydoodle]

7. The subject doubtless contributed to..

Karzai claims he will scrap private security contractors in Afghanistan.

Karzai has a legitimate complaint about the contractors in that they had little or no local accountability but were accountable only their their foreign employers--and often not very accountable to them. Private contractors employ some 40,000 people, competing for contracts worth billions. The government has tried unsuccessfully to register them and find out details of their weaponry and their earnings.

"Dissolving the private security companies is a serious programme that the government of Afghanistan will execute," Waheed Omer, a spokesman for President Karzai, told reporters.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/6489288-karza...